This is one insider's unpolished take on the current state of the Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, Florida real estate market. I am a licensed agent and partner with Walker Bagwell Properties. My sometimes blunt opinions here are not welcomed by the real estate mainstream. Whatever. Hopefully my insights will allow you to make better decisions about your participation in this market.

Larry Walker - 321.917.5786 - condoranger@hotmail.com

Monday, March 05, 2018

It's All About the Price

The striking mural above is on the west wall of Mainely Lobster downtown Cocoa Beach and is missed by most vistors to Cocoa Beach. It's one of my favorites of the several good murals scattered around downtown.

If the meager for sale inventory in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral were magically repriced overnight to within 5% of fair market value, I suspect over half would sell in two weeks. The demand for property remains high but the supply of fairly priced listings is not enough to satisfy that demand. I'm amazed that so many sellers insist on crazy high prices and that agents are willing to take on those listings. Some agents do it knowing there's a good chance the owners will drop the price later when the market doesn't deliver a buyer. Others will take a listing that will never sell knowing it will garner inquiries from prospective buyers. When those buyers realize they can't negotiate a fair price on the over-priced listing they'll move on to something else. Agent finds them something else at a fair price, gets paid and the over-priced bait continues to attract fresh prospects. Rinse, repeat. For an agent willing to put in the time and with the skills to work this angle efficiently, the results can be worth it. The over-priced sellers can continue to hope for a miracle. In this rising market, appreciation will eventually catch up to all but the most optimistic fantasy prices. Other than opportunity costs and mortgage payments, our recent rate of appreciation has been enough to cover condo fees and property taxes for most properties. However, considering a boring S&P index fund returned over 20% in 2017, the opportunity cost was significant for those who rode the year out clinging to an unrealistic price.

The evidence for overpricing is overwhelming. Exactly three condos have sold in our two cities in 2018 for more than $300 per square foot. Two were beautiful units in newer buildings and the other was a beautifully remodeled corner on a high floor. All three were direct ocean, third floor or higher. There are units that are worth $300 a foot and higher but they must be special. Any unit in the Meridian or a new oceanfront building will bring over $300/sf but in the older buildings a unit must be in exceptional condition to cross that threshold. Example: I saw a new listing in Emerald Seas last week asking $327 a square foot that was worth every penny of that, in my opinion, due to an exceptional total remodel and tasteful included furnishings. Congrats to the buyer that contracted that one. It's a beauty.

Looking at the inventory of condo and townhouse units for sale this morning I find 44 asking over $300 per square foot, 15 of them over $350/sf. Only a handful of these 44 are worth within 10% of their asking price. Not surprisingly, well over half have been on the market for over a year. Many of those have had their days on market manipulated to appear to be new listings. Some change their asking prices frequently to trigger inclusion on lists of price-changed listings. All it takes is a change of $1 lower or higher to trigger that inclusion. It will, however, take more than cute MLS tricks, marketing in Dubai, or the most beautiful agent in Florida to sell a property for 25% more than it's worth. I'm guessing the buyer of that funky unit close to the Pier asking $396/sf is not going to be willing to pony up that number no matter the "$80,000 native coral wall framing the ocean view".

It's exciting to get an email like the one below from the City. This was the warning last Friday.

And this below is the reality this morning, Monday, 10.8' with a 16 second period.

The forecast was spot on. The swell was showing already Friday and was filling in nicely by Saturday evening. It's off it's face this morning with double-overhead freight train lefts breaking well offshore. The angle of the swell is hard out of the north so those beaches north of downtown will be significantly smaller than the south beaches not shadowed by the Cape. Streets north of the Pier to the Port will be best for those wanting a more manageable size. Breaking waves should be significantly larger than the open ocean
measure of 10.8' at locations south of downtown Cocoa Beach all the way
to south Florida. The Reef Road break in front of Mar a Lago in Palm
Beach should be one of the best and biggest. Be safe out there. We look to have a few days of epic conditions after the wind switches offshore tonight or tomorrow.

"The problem of the world is that fools and
fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of
doubts." __Bertrand Russell